Monday

First day back in the real world. Still a little off.

I understand that 2 has shared some of our pics. There are some good ones. We used both the regular camera and the mini. The mini is really handy.

Unbeknownst to 2, I had a pretty interesting conversation on the plane home with a couple of well-known mesia personalities. I had snuck forward to First Class for a shorter line to a rest room and literally ran into Bob Costas! He had been in Copenhagen for some Olympics thing and had to get back to Chicago for a pow-wow with Daley on the bid for the 2016 Games. Our flight was the first that he could catch.

BC: Hey, bud! Aren't you in the wrong line? Economy has it's own heads.

LtPC: Well, there was a line and you guys have more openings. Say, you're Bob Costas!

BC: You're a scholar. But you're still in the wrong line.

LtPC: Whatever. The head stewardess gave me a hall pass.

BC: Inga?

LtPC: Yeah. We connected.

BC: Well, if you got past Inga, you have some skills. What's your story?

LtPC: Headed home after 10 days of sampling Italian wines and the French Alps. Man, am I looking forward to US traffic and my own bed!

BC: The Alps?

LtPC: Yeah. I had this silly idea that I wanted to ride up the Galibier, like the boys on the Tour de France. It wasn't pretty.

BC: How'd it go?

LtPC: Slow. But I made it. Not real interested in finding another hill like that.

BC: As I recall, Lance said that the Galibier is where his Postal and Discovery teams buried their would-be challengers. Couldn't you find some flat roads and just tell your friends that you did the Alps?

LtPC: I did take the shorter Southern route up, if that means anything. I had scouted the Northern approach and had concluded that the preliminary mountain (le Col de Telegraph) would have taken me all day to summit before I even began the final climb. I may be dense, but I can do the math.

BC: Lots of riders up there?

LtPC: Not a lot. I saw may 25-30 either passing me going up or flying the other way on their descents. A few tourists. More motorcyclists than anything. The last 8 clicks (kilometers for those used to American-speak) were up a trail that wasn't much past a goat path.

BC: Isn't that hill close to Briancon, France? As I recall, that town is a Vail-like ski place. I did a show there a few years back when the Winter Games were in Turin.

LtPC: Yeah. The area actually caught my eye a couple years back when the Tour de France and the Giro de Italia both had overnights there. I was surprised at the very modern commercial development, and it was easy to see how they could host the travelling circus that is the Tour. They also have a relatively small, mountain fortress area that dates back hundreds of years, and that section of town is a big tourist attraction.

BC: Well, LtPC, I'd like to hear more about your trip (not really), but it's my turn for use of the facilities. Why don't you go back to Economy where you belong?

LtPC: You're a prince, Bob.

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End of discussion.

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Check back later for more.

BCOT